Yarn feed mechanism

ABSTRACT

A yarn feed mechanism for producing continuous slub yarn from multifilament yarns having means for periodically overfeeding one multifilament yarn along with a second multifilament yarn to an entanglement means.

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee Clifford W. Palm Frostburg;

William R. Gibson, Cumberland, Md. 764,359

Aug. 6, 1968 Division of Ser. No. 359,814, Mar. 25, 1964, abandoned,which is a division of Ser. No. 811,066, ,9 2., Pet y 1194. 44717- Jail.i', 1971 Celanese Corporation New York, N .Y. =2 co we ivn v te YARNFEED MECHANISM 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl

[51] Int. Cl

B65h 17 22 501 Field ofSearch 226/153,181,176,177,187,190,193;57/34;29/121(A) [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 2,940,125 6/1960 Beucker 29/121(A) 3,105,349 10/1963Palm, et al. 226/153 Primary Examiner-Allen N. Knowles Attorneys-LeonardHorn, S. D. Murphy and Herbert M.

Adrian, Jr.

ABSTRACT: A yam feed mechanism for producing continuous slub yarn frommultifilament yarns having means for periodically overfeeding onemultifilament yarn along with a second multifilament yarri to anentanglement means.

PATENTED WW 3556; 377

INVENTORS CLIFFORD w. P WILLIAM R. GIBSON w mwq ATTORNE .5

YARN FEED MECHANISM This application is a division of Ser. No. 359,814,filed Mar. 25, 1964, now abandoned, which application is a division ofSer. No. 811, 066, filed May 5, I959, now US. Pat. No. 3,144,747.

This invention relates to novelty slub bulk yarn, as well as to aprocess of and means for producing such yarn.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus forproducing a heavy denier novelty slub bulk yarn which presents anunusual appearance and which can be employed in the manufacture of avariety of fabrics suitable for use as upholstery, draperies, clothingand the like.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatusfor producing a yarn of the aforesaid type which is composed of anunbulked core yarn surrounded and penetrated by a multitude of loops andcurls formed in an auxiliary or slub yarn when subjected to a bulkingoperation.

Concurrently, it is an object of the present invention to pro vide meansfor combining a core yarn and an auxiliary yarn in such a manner as toimpart thereto the desired irregular slub distribution.

The foregoing and other objects and characteristics of the presentinvention will be more fully understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description thereof when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawing.

in accordance with one aspect of the present invention a novelty slubyarn is produced by the hereinafter described apparatus forintermittently relieving of the tension on one of two multifilamentyarns fed simultaneously into a fluid bulking jet, whereby theuntensioned or auxiliary yarn is violently whipped about and theindividual filaments thereof are formed into a multitude of loops andcurls embracing and penetrating the second yarn or core which is alwaysmain tained under tension. Advantageously the resulting yarn has twistin it, which serves to stabilize its structure by preventing the loopedfilaments of the auxiliary yarn from separating from the core. The twistmay be provided by taking up the product on a downtwister or byemploying a core and/or an auxiliary yarn which initially contain twist.Stability and strength are also imparted by the unbulked core.

The yarns may comprise nylon, polyesters such as polyethyleneterephthalate, rayon, polymers and/or copolymers of olefins and/orvinyls such as ethylene, propylene, acrylonitrile, vinyl chloride, etc.,metals, metallics and especially organic acid esters of cellulose suchas cellulose acetate cellulose proportionate, and the like. Of course,more than one core and/or auxiliary yarn may be employed if desired, Ifthe several yarns are of different color or luster this will contributeto the variegated appearance of the product.

A jet of the type capable of being employed in this ap paratus, andusually called an air jet, is fully disclosed in the copendingapplication of Clifford W. Palm et al., Ser. No. 356,349 filed May 21,1953, now US. Pat. No. 3,557,098 and since such jet per se forms no partof the present invention, no further detailed description thereof isdeemed necessary herein.

In order to permit bulking of the auxiliary yarn it is necessary that atleast intermittently it be supplied to the bulking jet more rapidly thanit is taken away therefrom. The percent overfeed, i.e. 100 times thequotient of (feed rate minus withdrawal rate) divided by the withdrawalrate may range from about to 600 percent or more, and preferably aboutto 200-500 percent. The percent overfeed of course takes intoconsideration the slubs as well as the length of yarn between slubs. Theproduct may be bulked between slubs, if desired, however, by suitableselection of the normal supply speed of the auxiliary yarn. Thus thenormal percent overfeed may be about 20 to percent, higher overfeedsreducing the yarn strength and producing a yarn in which theintermittent character of the bulking will be obscured; that portion ofthe total denier of each slub comprising auxiliary yarn on the averageranges from about 50 percent or less to about 90 percent or more andpreferably about 65 to 85 percent.

The core passes through the system at slightly in excess oft) percentoverfeed. e.g. it is supplied to the jet about 5 to 10 percent fasterthan it is withdrawn therefrom in order to accommodate the auxiliaryyarn filaments which enter between, and thus distend, the corefilaments.

The apparatus for forming the novel product comprises separate feeds forthe auxiliary yarn and core, a bulking jet. a takeup mechanism, andmeans for intermittently varying, e.g. speeding up, the feed of theauxiliary yarn may be achieved by normally passing the yarn through atension gate which is intermittently opened, by varying the speed of apositive feed device, by varying the path of the yarn from its supply tothe jet, or the like. A suitable device for effecting this variationcomprises a special rotatable drive roll for feeding the auxiliary yarnto be bulked. The surface of the roll is divided into yarn-engaging andnonengaging areas which are not uniform along the effective length ofthe roll. Means are provided to traverse the yarn along the length ofsaid special roll to cause the yarn alternately to be engaged anddisengaged, nonuniformly, by the yard-engaging surface. Thus thenonengaging area may comprise one or more serpentine depressions in theroll surface, a plurality of spaced depressions preferably randomly cutout of the roll surface, or the like; the engaging areas may comprisehigh friction materials. Advantageously, the roll surface is providedwith random cutouts and cooperates with a smooth-surfaced companionroll. When the yarn is gripped between the companion roll and theyarn-Lengaging surface of the special roll the yarn is positively fed atpredetermined speed. When the yarn passes between the companion roll anda depressed area of the special roll it is not positively fed but ratheris pulled along rapidly by the action of the jet.

An apparatus which has given good results is shown in the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of an apparatus designed for carryingout the process and producing the yarn according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the elements of theapparatus shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a short length of the product.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, it will be seen that theapparatus according to the present invention comprises a pair of pigtailguides 10 and ll which are positioned for guiding a yarn 12 to serve asa core and an auxiliary yarn l3 taken, respectively, from a pair ofbobbins or spools l4 and 15. The apparatus further includes a pair offeed rolls l6 and 17, one or both of which may be positively driven byany suitable means (not shown), for drawing the yarn 12 from bobbin 14.Following the pigtail guide 10 there is provided a traverse bar 18 whichmay be reciprocated longitudinally of itself by any suitable meanslnotshown) and is provided with a yarn guide loop or eye 19. A second pairof feed rolls 20 and 21, one or both of which may be positively drivenand the area of rotation of which are substantially parallel to thedirection of reciprocal movement of the traverse bar 16, is positionedadjacent the latter and adapted to draw the auxiliary yarn 13 from thespool 15.

The feed rolls l6 and 17 are of conventional construction, one beingpreferably made of rubber or of a rubber-covered rigid material, theother being made of steel. Of the feed rolls 20 and 21, for a purposewhich will become clear presently, only the roll 21 is of conventionalconstruction e.g. steel. Reference to FIG. 2 shows that the roll 20,which may be made of cork, neoprene or other material having a highcoefficient of friction, is provided over its entire periphery with aplurality of recesses or cutouts 22, preferably randomly spaced,Although these are shown as being substantially rectangular in outline,it will be understood that both the shapes or outlines and thedistribution of the recesses 22 in the surface of the roll 20,hereinafter referred to as a cut roll," may be varied at will.

Positioned at the discharge side of the pairs of feed rolls 16- --I7 and20-21 is a yarn bulking jet 23 which comprises a housing 24 having ayarn inlet tube 25 at its top and a yarn outlet passageway (not shown)at its bottom. Attached to the bottom of the housing 24 is a deflectorplate 26 oriented at a predetermined angle to the yarn outlet path. Thefunction of this plate will be more fully explained hereinafter. In theinterior of the housing 24 is defined a chamber through which the yarnto be bulked is passed, and the housing is further provided with a fluidinlet nipple 27 communicating with the chamber and adapted to beconnected to a line 28 leading from any suitable source of fluid underpressure, for example, compressed air or steam.

A pair of takeup or delivery rolls 29 and 30 of conventionalconstruction is arranged at the discharge side of the air jet 23 fordrawing the yarn from the latter and feeding it via a pigtail guide 31to a ring rail 32 by means of which the yarn is reciprocated along atakeup spool 33 while being wound thereon.

The auxiliary yarn 13, passes through the jet at the same time, but itis to be intermittently bulked. In order to accomplish this, the feedrolls 20 and 21 are driven at a peripheral speed which is equal to orsomewhat more than the driven peripheral speed of the delivery rolls 29and 30. Because the roll 20 is provided with the cutouts or recesses 22,the yarn 13 will be relieved of all tension whenever it passes betweenthe rolls 20 and 21 at a location corresponding to one of the recesses22. It will be seen, therefore, that as the yarn 13 is traversed backand forth along the longitudinal dimension of the cut roll 20 by thetraverse bar 18, it will first be gripped between the outer surface ofthe roll 21 and an uncut surface portion of the roll 20, thus being keptunder tension, will then be relieved of tension when located within theconfines of one of the recesses 22 as the latter passes over the roll21, will thereafter again be gripped and tensioned between the roll 21and another uncut surface portion of the roll 20, and so on.

Consequently, whenever the yarn 13 is not under tension, the variousfilaments thereof in the bulking chamber of the jet 23 will be shippedabout by the stream of compressed air in such a manner as to form amultitude of loops and curls around, over and through the unbulked andcontinually tensioned yarn 12. During this time the action of the jet 23draws the yarn 13 off its spool 15 at a rate which may be many times,e.g. about 125 to 600 percent of, the normal rate, i.e. many times theperipheral speed of the roll 21. Thus, there is formed in the jet asingle end of a new and composite yarn 34 which, as it leaves the jet 23through the outlet passageway thereof, first impinges against thedeflector plate 26, which may extend from the housing at an angle ofabout 15 to 75. Such impingement enhances and aids in the stabilizing ofthe loops and curls formed in the yarn, and the stability of the productyarn 34 may be still further enhanced by subjecting the yarn to a slightadditional twist, whereby the core yarn and the slub-forming auxiliaryyarn become permanently affixed to one another.

As shown in FIG. 3, the product yarn 34 between slubs comprises a bundle35 of core filaments and a bundle 36 of auxiliary yarn filaments. At theslub 37 the auxiliary yarn filaments are bulked and interlaced throughthe core filaments which stabilizes the bulk. Because of the presence ofthe core it is possible to obtain bulking of several hundred percent inthe slubs whereas in the absence of a core, whether bulked continuouslyor intermittently, about 50 percent or less bulking is a general maximumif reasonably strong yarn is to be produced.

The distribution of the slubs along the product yarn 34 is, of course,completely irregular due to the random distribution of the recesses 22in the surface of the cut roll 20, and in conjunction with thereciprocating traverse bar 18. The use of the cut roll 20 enables theformation of slubs ranging in length from as low as 0.375 inch to ashigh as 2 inches with intervening nonslubbed portions ranging in lengthfrom as low as 0.50

inch to as high as 120.25 inches.

In a representative run with the illustrated apparatus, em-

ploying a cellulose acetate auxiliary yarn of 104 filaments united with5.5 Z turns per inch into a 200 denier yarn and a high tenacitycellulose acetate core of 40 filaments united with TABLE Lengthunslubbed Length portion, subsequent Slub inches slub, inches denierUnslubbed portion (273 denier):

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description is givenmerely by way of illustration and that many variations may be made inthe invention without departing from the spirit thereof.

lclaim:

1. A yarn-feeding mechanism comprising a rotatable drive roll having ayarn-engaging surface whose position, relative to a reference line onsaid roll parallel to the axis of said roll, varies along the effectivelength of said roll, and means for traversing said yarn along theeffective length of said roll so that said yarn is alternately andnonuniformly engaged and disengaged by said yarn-engaging surface duringthe rotation of said roll.

2. A yarn feeding mechanism according to claim 1, wherein said roll iscut out, the uncut area of said roll constituting the yarn-engagingsurface.

3. A yarn feeding mechanism according to claim 2, wherein the cutting ofsaid roll comprises a plurality of randomly spaced depressions in thesurface of said roll.

4. A yarn feeding mechanism, comprising a pair of feed rolls in surfacecontact with one another and adapted to have said yarn passtherebetween, the surface of one of said rolls being imperforate, thesurface of the other of said rolls being provided throughout with aplurality of cutouts, and means for reciprocally traversing the yarnpassing between said rolls longitudinally of the latter, whereby saidyarn is positively gripped only when said traversing means locates itbetween said one roll and an uncut portion of the surface of said otherroll, while said yarn is not gripped when said traversing means locatesit between said one roll and any of said cutouts in the surface of saidother roll.

@2 3 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3556 3 77 'Dated January 19 1971 Inventor(s) Clifford W. Palm and WilliamR. Gibson It is certified that error appears in the above-identifiedpatent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2 line 9 after "yarn" the following words should be inserted--'-to the jet. The variation of the feed of the auxiliary yarn-.

Column 2 line 55, "area" should be -axes--.

Column 3, line 37 "shipped" should be ---whipped--.

Column 4, in Table, under "Slub denier" and in line with "Unslubbedportion 11'', "865" should be --88S--.

Signed and sealed this 29th day of June 1971.

(SEAL) Attest:

M.FLETGHER JR. WILLIAM E. SCHUYLER i ing Officer Commissioner of Pat

1. A yarn-feeding mechanism comprising a rotatable drive roll having ayarn-engaging surface whose position, relative to a reference line onsaid roll parallel to the axis of said roll, varies along the effectivelength of said roll, and means for traversing said yarn along theeffective length of said roll so that said yarn is alternately andnonuniformly engaged and disengaged by said yarn-engaging surface duringthe rotation of said roll.
 2. A yarn feeding mechanism according toclaim 1, wherein said roll is cut out, the uncut area of said rollconstituting the yarn-engaging surface.
 3. A yarn feeding mechanismaccording to claim 2, wherein the cutting of said roll comprises aplurality of randomly spaced depressions in the surface of said roll. 4.A yarn feeding mechanism, comprising a pair of feed rolls in surfacecontact with one another and adapted to have said yarn passtherebetween, the surface of one of said rolls being imperforate, thesurface of the other of said rolls being provided throughout with aplurality of cutouts, and means for reciprocally traversing the yarnpassing between said rolls longitudinally of the latter, whereby saidyarn is positively gripped only when said traversing means locates itbetween said one roll and an uncut portion of the surface of said otherroll, while said yarn is not gripped when said traversing means locatesit between said one roll and any of said cutouts in the surface of saidother roll.